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Tag: workplace

  • Feeling stuck at work as the New Year begins? It may be a sign of professional growth

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    by Leda Stawnychko, Mount Royal University

    As the new year starts, it’s natural to feel torn between gratitude and restlessness. December often disrupts routines: fewer meetings, quieter inboxes and a rare chance to take stock and reflect.

    During this time, people may feel pride in how far they have come, alongside a growing sense that the path they are on no longer fits.

    This discomfort is especially common at stages of life when professionals expect to feel more settled, yet instead feel stagnant. It’s easy to dismiss such feelings as impatience or a lack of commitment.

    But research on adult learning and development suggests that feeling stuck is often a signal of growth. It’s evidence that our internal development has outpaced our external circumstances.

    In educational research, this tension is often described as a disorienting dilemma: an experience that unsettles our assumptions and highlights a mismatch between how we see ourselves and the contexts we are in.

    While these moments are often uncomfortable, they act as necessary catalysts for meaningful learning and change, motivating people to reassess their goals, values and direction. Seen this way, yearning for new beginnings is a rational response to growth.

    Diagnosing the source of restlessness

    If you’re ready for change but unsure of where to begin, a useful first step is clarifying what is driving the sense of restlessness. Is it the work itself, the people you work with or the broader organizational culture?

    When organizations are generally supportive, growth doesn’t necessarily require leaving. Change may be possible within the same environment. In these cases, conversations with supervisors can reveal opportunities that are not immediately obvious, such as stretch assignments, special projects or support for further learning.

    Research shows that people who stay with organizations over the long term often do so because of strong relationships, a good fit with their broader lives and what scholars call “job embeddedness” — the financial, social and psychological benefits of the position that make leaving costly.

    Research suggests feelings of stagnation at work may be a normal part of adult learning and career progression. (Getty Images/Unsplash+)

    But when the cost of staying is stifling your growth, it’s worth exploring how you might either renegotiate growth where you are or thoughtfully prepare to move on.

    Re-evaluating what matters now

    Whether you’re considering a shift within your organization or beyond it, taking time to reassess your needs, goals and values is essential. What mattered to you earlier in your career may not matter in the same way now. Income, learning, flexibility, stability and meaning all rise and fall in importance across life stages.

    Clarifying your values does not mean choosing one priority forever. It simply provides a clearer map for evaluating opportunities.

    Some people prioritize mentorship or employer-supported education. Others need predictable schedules, strong health benefits or flexibility to care for family members.

    Understanding what matters most now helps narrow your options and reduces the paralysis that often accompanies big decisions.

    Focusing on activities rather than titles

    Another way to gain clarity is to imagine your ideal role without fixating on job titles.

    Titles can be misleading and often mask the day-to-day reality of the work. Instead, focus on activities. How will you spend most of your time? What skills will you be using day to day?

    One useful question is what activities you would gladly do without being paid. These often point to core strengths and motivations worth taking seriously. Organizational psychologists describe this as intrinsic motivation — the internal drive to engage in an activity because it is inherently satisfying.

    Two women working at laptops in an office

    Whether you’re considering a shift within your organization or beyond it, taking time to reassess your needs, goals and values is essential. (A. C./Unsplash+)

    For example, early in my career, I began to notice a pattern in my volunteer work. I was consistently drawn to supporting professionals through moments of career transition, conflict and change. Over time, that realization helped me recognize that mentoring and coaching were activities I already valued enough to do for free.

    With that insight, I began targeting roles in my own career that rewarded those same activities, ensuring that my work consistently included elements that felt both meaningful and energizing.

    Preparing for the next step

    Once priorities and interests are clearer, look closely at the qualifications and experiences the roles you are drawn to actually require and begin developing them intentionally.

    This can occur through low-risk avenues, including projects in your current job, entrepreneurial or side work, volunteer roles or targeted learning opportunities.

    Consistently taking small, purposeful steps can help you systematically bridge the gap between your current capabilities and the demands of your next chapter. By actively cultivating these skills, you transform a period of restlessness into a constructive phase of professional readiness.

    As you consider what comes next, use your network strategically to learn and ask questions. New beginnings unfold through conversations, experiments and choices made over time.

    Also pay attention to the beliefs shaping your actions. Assumptions about what you can or cannot do can limit options more than skills ever do. Feeling stuck is an invitation to evolve and may mark the start of an exciting new chapter you can begin writing today.

    Leda Stawnychko, Associate Professor of Strategy and Organizational Theory, Mount Royal University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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    The Conversation

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  • How RTO Plans That Accommodate Working Parents Can Help Retain Staff

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    Renewed or stiffer return to office (RTO) rules are often met with protest from employees who cherish the flexibility of remote options. But new data indicates the greatest resistance comes from working parents who feel their domestic commitments have been ignored by employers ordering staff back to the workplace.

    Previous studies showed strengthened RTO rules or full, five-day weekly mandates have led to a rising number of women dropping out of the labor market. Many departed female workers said they left to fulfill child-raising and other domestic commitments that became difficult with less job flexibility. A new survey by workplace mental well-being services provider Modern Health indicates increased pressure created by reduced remote work options is now being felt by parents of both genders. That’s especially true for people juggling a career, looking after kids, and caring for older family members as well.

    Survey responses suggest spending more time in the office needn’t be that difficult, so long as workers’ personal commitments are taken into account. But 71 percent of the 1,000 full-time U.S. employees aged 30–65 who were questioned said RTO decisions are usually made without considering domestic demands on parents — particularly women.

    There are solid business reasons why employers might want to keep those workers in mind when altering in-office rules in the future.

    The Modern Health survey found most employees didn’t regard reinforced RTO conditions as a zero-sum change for the worse. About 85 percent of participants said tighter return to the office rules had strengthened workplace collaboration and culture, and 84 percent reported it had helped reduce loneliness and disconnection at work. 

    However, 91 percent of participants stressed requirements to spend more time in the office are most productive when they remain mindful of employees work-life balance and flexibility — especially after they sought their employees’ input. But most surveyed workers said that hasn’t been happening often when RTO tightening has been carried out so far.

    In addition to the over 70 percent of participants who said reinforced rules had been planned without considering the impact on working parents, 74 percent viewed that neglect as making it more difficult, particularly for mothers, to continue pursuing their careers. 

    Go inside one interesting founder-led company each day to find out how its strategy works, and what risk factors it faces. Sign up for 1 Smart Business Story from Inc. on Beehiiv.

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    Bruce Crumley

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  • Finding Calm in Chaos: How Leaders Can Thrive Amid Industry Uncertainty

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    We are living through one of the most volatile periods in modern business. Global uncertainty has nearly doubled since the mid-1990s, and the tech sector feels this turbulence more acutely, with top tech companies having experienced 40% higher churn from 2000–2023 than other industries.

    Executives today face disruption from every angle: generative AI reshaping business models overnight, shifting regulations, geopolitical tensions fragmenting markets, and intense competition for talent. Anxiety is widespread—but uncertainty reveals more about leadership than stability ever could.

    The companies thriving through uncertainty aren’t those with perfect foresight. They’re the ones that practiced navigating volatility before the storm hits—building organizational muscle memory that transforms disruption into competitive advantage.

    Map talent to value creation

    In volatile times, the difference between thriving and surviving comes down to whether your best people are positioned to drive the most value.

    Most executives focus on C-suite talent allocation, but true competitive advantage lives in the team leads, product managers, and engineers doing the hands-on work. These are the roles where decisions get made hundreds of times per day—where product features get prioritized, customer problems get solved, and code gets deployed.

    When the landscape shifts, you need your strongest players closest to the action. I’ve watched companies lose ground not because their strategy was wrong, but because their best execution talent was trapped in legacy projects while competitors moved faster.

    The companies getting this right are ruthless about talent reallocation. When market conditions shift, they move their strongest teams to the opportunities that matter most, rather than waiting for annual planning cycles.

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    Tony Jamous

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  • 3 Strategies to Help Your Small Business Control Spiraling Health Care Costs

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    Health insurance has quietly become one of the most punishing financial pressures facing American entrepreneurs. Individuals feel it searching the ACA marketplace. Small business owners feel it in their payroll budgets. The question has shifted from how to offer better benefits to how much longer coverage is even sustainable.

    I get it. You want to take care of your people. They’ve been loyal, they’ve put in the work, and they deserve the security that comes with decent health coverage. But when premiums are devouring your margins and threatening the sustainability of your entire operation, caring for your team becomes a high-stakes balancing act between compassion and survival. 

    In today’s labor market, health insurance is not a perk. It is the baseline cost of competing for talent. Without it, you limit the quality of people you attract and the ability to keep your strongest performers. Businesses that step away from offering benefits face a different set of expenses. And companies without health coverage see higher turnover, lower productivity, and fewer qualified applicants. The trade association SHRM reports that replacing an employee can cost between up to twice their annual salary, which turns churn into a significant financial hit. When employees skip or delay care because they lack coverage, absenteeism rises, minor issues become major, and operational costs increase. Dropping insurance may lower expenses in the moment, but the long-term costs are often far higher.  

    The numbers tell the story: In California’s private sector, average monthly premiums for family coverage nearly doubled between 2008 and 2023, rising from just over $1,000 to almost $2,000, according to KFF. That climb has continued through 2024 and 2025. This is not just a California issue. It is a national trend. 

    Small employers feel the squeeze most. Companies with 10 to 199 employees lack the buying power of large corporations, so they absorb the increases at full force. Family premiums for small businesses have surged more than 350 percent since 1999. In only the last five years, average family premiums rose from 16,977 in 2020 to $26,054 in 2025.

    The good news is that business owners are not powerless. New models give employers more control, more predictability, and in many cases, better outcomes for employees. Here are the strategies gaining momentum:

    1. Defined contribution plans
    Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements, or ICHRAs, allow employers to set a fixed budget and let employees choose their own coverage. You stabilize your costs. They gain flexibility. This is particularly effective for teams spread across several regions or states.

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    Gayle Jennings O’Byrne

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  • The Skilled Worker Shortage May Hit Hard in 2026

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    The U.S. workforce is in serious trouble, with a growing mismatch between the talents that young workers joining the workforce have to offer and the talents that employers need. The problems go far beyond a potential worker shortage, warns a new report from investment banking giant JPMorganChase, and the situation may even pose a national security risk. The implication for your company is clear: if your business is in one of the most affected industries, you may find it harder than before to find and recruit new talent. 

    The new report says that three in four U.S. companies are struggling to find qualified workers. Worse, four in 10 adults lack basic digital skills needed for the typical workplace. Given how our society is increasingly digital, that the PC revolution began back in the 1980s and looking at the growing adoption rates of automation and tech like AI, this latter statistic is pretty startling. Gen-Z is considered to be the first “digitally native” generation, so at least they can reverse-mentor their older colleagues, but the fact that nearly half of workers don’t even have basic computer skills should be concerning for employers large and small. 

    The qualifications gap isn’t evenly spread, JPMorgan’s report shows. The most affected sectors are semiconductor manufacturing, the defense industry, energy and AI. Reporting on the study, Newsweek notes that the bank highlights the long-term implications of these shortages, as other allies invest more heavily into STEM and technical training initiatives and rivals like China inject vast sums into training their population. JPMorgan estimated that the U.S. technology workforce is expected to grow at twice the rate of the overall workforce over the next 10 years, which makes the skills gap a growing problem: if workers aren’t leaving education with the appropriate skills, and existing workers don’t reskill or upskill, then many of these jobs may go unfilled, threatening expansion and innovation in this critical sector. 

    The fact that AI skills is present in the list is unsurprising: the sector is growing fast. The AI talent wars that played out this summer as top U.S. names tried to poach superstar researchers from each other for vast sums of money showed exactly how competitive the AI skills market is. But there’s also evidence that there’s a gap between the expectations CEOs have of AI and the skills and experiences their workers have—a gap that could be closed by education and retraining, even though many companies are proving slow at investing in this kind of schooling. 

    JPMorgan’s list of the most affected industries is notably science-heavy. This may be a problem in the current political climate where some commentators note that the value of scientific expertise is under siege, with increasing anti-science rhetoric in the workplace and disinformation and misinformation are on the rise—potentially shaping the thinking of young people entering the education systems. To counter this issue, the bank calls for an expansion in federal and state policies to modernize the education pipeline and encourage training programs and apprenticeships.

    This may be a tricky problem, though, as many young people are thought to be turning toward job sectors where AI can’t threaten their long-term employability, including hands-on work like plumbing, being an electrician and other trade jobs.

    Newsweek also notes the report came not long after President Trump upset part of his political base by suggesting that talented foreign workers may be needed to fill the skills gap, particularly in manufacturing facilities set up by foreign firms on U.S. soil. But other reports note that Trump’s pro-U.S. policies to try to promote manufacturing of semiconductors and his anti-immigration thinking and tariff policies form a political Gordian knot.

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    Kit Eaton

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  • If Mom Wants Her Christmas Stocking Filled, Should She Have to Ask?

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    Too many moms will wake up Christmas morning to empty Christmas stockings. Although they’ve filled stockings for the rest of the family, no one will have filled theirs. Saturday Night Live lampooned this all-too-predictable phenomenon. And recently, CNN raised the issue after a young wife’s Instagram video about it went viral.

    But if Mom’s empty stocking is a problem that should be fixed, who’s responsible for fixing it? That question has caused some debate across social media in recent days. One wife and mother interviewed by CNN made a point of telling her husband to put some items in her stocking. She urged other moms to do the same. “Dads can’t help us if they don’t know. You just need to be bold and speak up for yourself and what you want,” she said.

    For many readers, that solution misses the point. Buying a few stocking stuffers is neither difficult nor expensive. It’s a small effort of caring that mothers make for their partners and children year after year. Those mothers should not have to explain that they’d like the same caring in return. As one Reddit member put it: “Women somehow know they need to take care of these things but men need to be told? Another thing on Mom’s to-do list.”

    It’s about emotional labor.

    Even if you’re unmarried or, like me, never had a Christmas stocking tradition, you should care about this question. It goes straight to the issue of how women’s roles are perceived, both at home and at work. It’s part of the debate over emotional labor, defined as the work we do to take care of other people’s feelings. Arranging get-togethers, putting up holiday decorations, remembering to celebrate birthdays and retirements–these are all examples of emotional labor. And they are all tasks that women more commonly perform than men.

    HR professionals, business leaders, and advocates for gender equality have woken up to this fact in the past few years. Because if the women in the office always organize going away parties, find just the right gift for that key team member, and lend an ear when someone needs to vent, that’s bound to affect their productivity. No one will ever get a bonus for remembering other employees’ birthdays. Yet those kinds of tasks add value, because they keep your team feeling like a team, rather than a random group of people who all happen to work in the same place.

    In an ideal world, business leaders who brag about their company culture would reward the emotional labor that helps create that culture. Everyone of every gender would share in that effort. No one would ever fall behind because they put in too much time making sure other team members felt valued. And no Mom would ever have to explain that, just like everyone else, she would like her stocking filled.

    Go inside one interesting founder-led company each day to find out how its strategy works, and what risk factors it faces. Sign up for 1 Smart Business Story from Inc. on Beehiiv.

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    Minda Zetlin

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  • Taylor Swift’s Favorite De-Stressing Technique Is Backed by a Ton of Science

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    We’ve all come home wound up after a long day at work with jangled nerves. Imagine coming home and winding down after singing and dancing for three-and-a-half hours to 65,000 screaming fans. That’s what Taylor Swift had to do after every performance on her Eras Tour. 

    How did she manage it? As the pop icon recently explained on late night with Stephen Colbert, some of her go-to post-show de-stressing techniques are exactly what you’d imagine. She changes out of her costume and gets straight into the bath for what she calls “mermaid time.” Then she orders a ton of room service. 

    She also signs about 2,000 CDs. That might sound like the least relatable, most pop star thing you could possibly do to end the day. But as she talked about her post-concert ritual, I realized her technique is actually a variation of a research-backed stress-busting approach that’s recommended by psychologists for all of us non-superstars too. 

    How Taylor Swift winds down after a show 

    “After the show, you know that kind of feeling where you’re sort of like a flickering light bulb? That’s crazy,” Swift says, describing her post-concert mental state. “That’s hard to go to sleep after.” 

    While few of us have completed record-breaking world tours, most of us can recognize the wired refusal of your nervous system to calm down that she describes. And many of us will sympathize with the impulse to put on some athleisure and shove french fries in our mouths as a coping mechanism. 

    Fewer of us would think to write our own names over and over a couple of thousand times. Signing CDs, Swift explains, isn’t a promotional requirement of pop stardom (at least that’s not all it is). It’s also a way to use simple, repetitive physical activity to calm her adrenalized brain. 

    “My profession,” she explains, “is coming up with ideas for stuff, so if I can turn off the ideas for a second, very exciting.” One best ways to do that on tour, she discovered, is “doing tactile hand activity” like signing CDs. 

    Go inside one interesting founder-led company each day to find out how its strategy works, and what risk factors it faces. Sign up for 1 Smart Business Story from Inc. on Beehiiv.

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    Jessica Stillman

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  • How Meta’s Link Limit in Facebook Posts Will Cost Small Business Marketers

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    Marketing products on Facebook is about to become more expensive for influencers, content creators, and companies. The social platform’s parent company, Meta, informed members with business accounts that they’ll have to start paying if they want to send more than two links per month to customers and followers through the site.

    The good news for entrepreneurs and small companies promoting their businesses on Facebook is that Meta’s move to limit links on organic posts is currently just a test. The bad news is there’s a better than fair chance the tech giant will not only make the two-free-monthly-links-policy permanent, but possibly extend it to its other social platforms like Instagram. The reason? The trial restriction reflects Meta’s ongoing efforts to wring as much profit from its various business units as possible.

    The alert sent to Facebook business account holders noted that the only way to avoid the link limitation is to “(s)ubscribe to Meta Verified” for the monthly fee of $14.99. That premium option already offers users a badge vouching for their company’s legitimacy, and also provides protective measures against fraudsters impersonating them.

    Several media reports have quoted Meta officials stressing the trial nature of the link limitation. Social media expert Matt Navarra was among the first people to alert other business account holders to the change, and offered Meta’s reasoning behind it.

    “This is a limited test to understand whether the ability to publish an increased volume of posts with links add additional value for Meta Verified subscribers,” Navarra wrote in a Facebook post, in which he initially seemed to try calming any fears the expensive update will remain in place for good. “This isn’t enforcement or a platform-wide rule change — it’s a small, controlled test.”

    But in subsequent posts, Navarra changed his tone, noting Meta’s continued quest to monetize as many aspects of its social media platforms as possible. Those reminders were unlikely to have allayed his readers’ fears that the current trial forcing Facebook business account holders to subscribe to Meta Verified isn’t the next step in the company’s profit-enhancing process.

    “(I)t does reinforce a broader direction,” Navarra acknowledged. “Meta Verified is increasingly being treated as a trust layer, not just a badge. If this expands, it would mark a meaningful shift.”

    In some ways, it already does.

    Not only will Facebook business account holders be limited to two monthly free links in their messages — which most use to drive followers or customers to their content. In its restriction notice, meanwhile, Meta underlined that those two freebies should be used on the very first day of each month, because “unused posts won’t be rolled over” for use later on.

    Even in the restriction’s current test, Navarra noted, creators and small business marketers are effectively watching their unlimited link publishing capabilities being placed behind the Meta Verified paywall.

    “This isn’t really about verification as much as about bundling survival features behind a subscription,” Navarra told the BBC. “If you’re a creator or a business, I think the message is essentially if Facebook is a part of your growth or traffic strategy, that access now has a price tag attached to it… And that’s new in its explicitness, even if it’s been the direction of travel for a while.”

    In other words, don’t be shocked if the current test becomes a permanent rule — and starts migrating to other Meta social platforms. Anticipating that, Navarra offered affected entrepreneurs a valuable communications reminder.

    “Tests like this underline why building a business that’s overly dependent on any one platform’s goodwill is incredibly risky,” he told the broadcaster, saying this kind of squeezing will likely increase over time. “For creators it reinforces a pretty brutal reality that Facebook is no longer a reliable traffic engine and Meta is increasingly nudging it away from people trying to use it as one.”

    Go inside one interesting founder-led company each day to find out how its strategy works, and what risk factors it faces. Sign up for 1 Smart Business Story from Inc. on Beehiiv.

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    Bruce Crumley

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  • The Top 15 Highest-Paying Jobs for 2026 That Don’t Require a Degree

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    As questions about the value of a traditional college degree (or at least the value of studying certain subjects at college) intensify, reports suggest some Gen-Z youngsters are turning away from the idea of college education and are looking to learn a trade. A new study from online resume service Resume Builder underlines the value of this kind of hands-on work in an era when AI is expected to slowly expand into many different industry sectors, upending the job market as it goes. Resume Builder’s analysis found the top 15 jobs for 2026 that don’t require a college degree, and some of the job titles and salary levels are eye-opening. 

    The top job per Resume Builder’s list is “Elevator and escalator installer and repairer.” This technology-centric, safety-critical engineering job is expected to lead to a median annual salary of $106,580 next year—with the top 10 percent of workers topping $149,250. In 2024, there were about 24,000 of these jobs, but by 2026 a growth of five percent is expected. It may be a surprising job title to see on top of a non-college job list, but if you think about it, it makes great sense: as of now, AI and robotics wouldn’t threaten this job (though AI may be a useful tool to help predict if an escalator or elevator may fail, and appropriate AI tools might suggest fixes for an engineer looking at unexpected problem.) The job also comes with legal and insurance burdens other jobs don’t, due to the safety issues of the infrastructure in question.

    The number two job is a bit more conventional: Transportation, storage, and distribution manager, with a median annual salary of $102,010, and a top 10 percent salary of over $180,000. We live in an era of convenient home shopping, and goods always need to move from point A to point B to support business processes in many different industry sectors, so, like jobs involving death and taxes, this career is a probable long-laster. The number of managers in this sector is also expected to jump six percent over 2024’s figure, so there’s growth here too, and likely a fair number of job openings.

    In third place, possibly given a boost by the rocket-propelled growth in power-hungry computer data centers needed to power the AI revolution, is work as an “electrical power-line installer and repairer.” This is skilled and potentially risky work, which fits the median salary of over $92,000 (with the top 10 percent earning over $126,000). Growth of jobs in this sector is expected to hit seven percent over 2024’s number, showing exactly how critical power line workers are. As well as AI power demands, we can guess that clean power initiatives and the rise in EVs may be contributing to the popularity of this kind of work.

    The rest of the list is also fascinating. Take a look:

    • Aircraft and avionics equipment mechanic and technician (Median annual salary: $79,140)
    • Detective and criminal investigator (Median annual salary: $77,270)
    • Locomotive engineer (Median annual salary: $75,680)
    • Wholesale and manufacturing sales representative (Median annual salary: $74,100)
    • Flight attendant (Median annual salary: $67,130)
    • Property, real estate, and community association manager (Median annual salary: $66,700)
    • Water transportation worker (Median annual salary: $66,490)
    • Food service manager (Median annual salary: $65,310)
    • Heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technician (Median annual salary: $62,740)
    • Athlete and sports competitor (Median annual salary: $62,360)
    • Chef and head cook (Median annual salary: $60,990)
    • Insurance sales agent (Median annual salary: $60,370)

    In an email to Inc., Eva Chan—one of Resume Builder’s career experts—notes that “one of the biggest job search myths is that ‘no degree’ means ‘no education,’ when some of the fastest routes to higher pay are built on practical training.” She added that “people who do best without a four-year degree aren’t looking for shortcuts, they’re choosing a path with clear requirements and then following through. With a solid plan and the motivation to build job-ready skills, a high-paying career can be much closer than most job seekers think.” Her argument is backed up by a recent report that says that in the AI era, one highly tempting career path guaranteed to skirt the job threat inherent in AI tools is to work and study to get a state license in almost any career where this carries weight—like being a CPA or an electrician.

    Resume Builder’s advice for people pursuing non-college degrees is valuable: firstly, the company advises young people to pursue “alternative” education paths, because they “allow job seekers to respond to market demand faster than traditional degree paths, helping them gain qualifications and earn higher pay sooner.” This could include vocational training or apprenticeships—both popular options for Gen-Z, and for many companies. Conducting your own research is also advised during the job-seeking process, including “networking, informational interviews, and reviewing resume samples or templates,” which can also help job seekers “better understand employer expectations and stand out during the hiring process.” In an era when AI tools are being over-used by applicants and perhaps HR teams too, this makes sense.

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    Kit Eaton

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  • Here’s What CEOs Want More of Next Year: Surprise, AI Tops the List

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    Integrating the breakthrough tech was seen as more important than attracting talented new workers.

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    Kit Eaton

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  • Trump Set to Expand Immigration Crackdown in 2026 Despite Brewing Backlash

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    U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing for a more aggressive immigration crackdown in 2026 with billions in new funding, including by raiding more workplaces — even as backlash builds ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

    Trump has already surged immigration agents into major U.S. cities, where they swept through neighborhoods and clashed with residents. While federal agents this year conducted some high-profile raids on businesses, they largely avoided raiding farms, factories and other businesses that are economically important but known to employ immigrants without legal status.

    ICE and Border Patrol will get $170 billion in additional funds through September 2029 – a huge surge of funding over their existing annual budgets of about $19 billion after the Republican-controlled Congress passed a massive spending package in July.

    Administration officials say they plan to hire thousands more agents, open new detention centers, pick up more immigrants in local jails and partner with outside companies to track down people without legal status.

    The expanded deportation plans come despite growing signs of political backlash ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

    Miami, one of the cities most affected by Trump’s crackdown because of its large immigrant population, elected its first Democratic mayor in nearly three decades last week in what the mayor-elect said was, in part, a reaction to the president. Other local elections and polling have suggested rising concern among voters wary of aggressive immigration tactics.

    “People are beginning to see this not as an immigration question anymore as much as it is a violation of rights, a violation of due process and militarizing neighborhoods extraconstitutionally,” said Mike Madrid, a moderate Republican political strategist. “There is no question that is a problem for the president and Republicans.”

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    Reuters

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  • How to Address Bias Against Older Workers

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    It can start small—a joke about retirement, a skipped invite to a new client project, or a hiring manager saying we want “digital natives.” 

    One comment might be easy to overlook, and while not every frustrating moment is ageism, over time, these subtle patterns can add up to something bigger: age bias at work.

    According to Resume Now’s Age Disrespect Report, 90 percent of workers over 50 say they’ve faced discrimination because of their age. 

    For many professionals, that bias shows up as earning less than younger colleagues in the same role, being excluded from challenging assignments, feeling pressured to retire, or even being targeted during layoffs.

    Age doesn’t have to be a career setback. With the right tools, and a clear understanding of your rights, older professionals can navigate bias, advocate for themselves, and stay competitive in the workplace. 

    Employers also play a key role by addressing ageism and building more inclusive teams.

    To learn how to navigate the issue, I spoke with resume Now’s career expert Keith Spencer, and Florida employment rights lawyer Brett Kaplan on the most effective ways to address ageism head-on.

    The extended deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 19, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Alyshia Hull

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  • Recent Weak Job Figures May Mask an Even Worse Employment Outlook

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    People have long found ways to draw different conclusions from the same set of statistics — diverging interpretations that are even more common in these divided times. But it’s becoming increasingly difficult to read recent employment data without inferring that they reflect an apparently stalling labor market that has sent the the unemployment rate to 4.6 percent — the highest since September 2021.

    Economists say that fear is based on indications that despite signs of expanding economic growth, the weakening employment outlook is getting worse. Those concerns rose this week when the latest government data showed employers added only 64,000 new jobs in November. That was less than a third of the average 186,000 monthly hiring rate in 2024, and followed anemic recruitment activity since May. It also came on the heels of a 105,000 headcount decline in October.

    Those numbers reflected businesses remaining wary of uncertainties stemming from import tariffs, mass deportations, and other disruptive government policies. As those doubts about the economy’s health spread, companies adopted the cautious practice of maintaining, rather than expanding staff levels. Indeed, while those no-hiring strategies slowed job creation rates to almost zero, employers’ refusal to undertake mass firings has also helped keep the employment situation stable in recent months.

    But that now may be changing.

    November’s 4.6 percent unemployment rate was an increase from 4.4 percent in September — the last time official figures were published — and considerably higher than 4.1 percent a year ago. It also marks the highest jobless level in more than four years. And even as that key metric has risen, other factors have also started troubling economists.

    For starters, wage growth advanced by only 3.5 percent in November compared to the same month last year. While the latest official figures showed inflation slowed to 2.7 percent in November, the average monthly rate has hovered around 3 percent in 2025. That has meant households already facing an affordability crisis have seen prices increase almost at pace with their incomes. That situation doesn’t look likely to change soon.

    The reason for that goes back to the weak job numbers. With company hiring virtually stalled, and employee quit rates at a five-year low, business aren’t under pressure to increase pay levels to attract or retain workers. And with wage levels flattening, the number of people who’ve have taken on second or third jobs just to get by has risen to its highest level in nearly 25 years.

    According to Laura Ullrich, director of economic research in North America for job posting site Indeed’s Hiring Lab research unit, those negative employment statistics are now outweighing broader economic growth that some experts think may reach about 2 percent for 2025.

    “(I)t still paints a sobering picture of a job market that may officially be turning frigid after a prolonged cooling period,” wrote Ullrich in an analysis of the October and November employment numbers.

    Moreover, Ullrich noted that as has been the case for the past half year, specific sectors — especially healthcare, leisure and hospitality, and construction businesses — have been responsible for most new jobs created. By contrast, the majority of other industries — notably manufacturing, tech, and transportation — have held headcounts stable, or cut them.

    Should those few actively hiring sectors join the others in halting large-scale recruitment, the overall jobs picture and unemployment rate risk swiftly turning bleaker. Yet even businesses reporting higher recruitment may not be doing that at the paces statistics indicate.

    As Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell noted earlier this month, current methods for gathering government employment data may generate “overstatement in these numbers.” That means companies that now appear to hiring be actively may be doing so at lower levels than official numbers suggest — meaning the labor market may be sputtering even more than some economists fear.

    Federal agencies are planning to swap those data collection practices for more accurate alternatives early next year, which should provide increasingly accurate job readings. But Ullrich warns that switch to more precise tools could result in today’s feeble employment numbers being revised even further downward to reflect the true state of the labor market.

    “Until we observe the new methodology and updated payroll estimates, we should remain guarded in our interpretation of these data,” Ullrich wrote of the recent job numbers. “In a best-case world, the labor market continues its languid growth, with a small set of sectors generating a very large percentage of jobs. However, it is also possible that we have lost jobs in many of the months this year, and future revisions will present an even bleaker view. “

    The extended deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 19, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Bruce Crumley

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  • How Your Loneliness May May Be Harming Your Whole Company

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    Leading a company can sometimes be a lonely proposition — you have to remain a little dispassionate, a little bit apart, and make decisions that affect your staff, choices only you can make. But a new report shows that leadership loneliness can sometimes hit a little too hard and can impact how the whole workplace performs. There’s plenty you can do to mitigate the problem, though, if you’re suffering as a lonely leader.

    In a new research paper, a team of psychologists and management researchers looked into loneliness in the workplace and highlighted several reasons why managers may feel particularly lonely. Unsurprisingly, they relate directly to the demands of being a leader, as well as daily corporate realities. As managers rise through the ranks, the researchers note, status and responsibility increase—as does the distance and personal disconnection from their subordinates and peers. To build connections requires showing a degree of vulnerability, but pressures of being a manager and its obligations, like having to maintain confidentiality, can take precedence over cultivating more social, personal connections. 

    Writing at science news site Phys.org, the scientists note they also investigated the impact of this kind of management loneliness. On days when leaders were feeling lonely they tended to directly engage less with their work duties and also had lower levels of engagement with team members—something of a paradox. The impact didn’t end there, either, and researchers also found that when their respondents got home, they also distanced themselves more from other people, creating a kind of feedback loop that perpetuated feelings of isolation into the following workday. This habit, the scientists think, may explain why managers can feel lonely for extended periods. 

    The impact on the overall workplace is also notable, they explain. A manager’s feeling of loneliness can influence how they interact with their teams in ways that mean they may be less open about sharing, possibly avoiding feedback, and even appearing withdrawn. If workers and peers pick up on this, it can have a knock-on effect on morale, harm the dynamics of teams that rely on upbeat, fast-paced communications and even lower job performance. 

    In the study, the scientists remark in conclusion that “transient loneliness” is a “hidden but consequential barrier to effective leadership,” because of the way it isolates leaders and leads to a loop of self-isolating behaviors. 

    But they also found that a strong “nonwork identity,” which means engaging with family and friendship groups in “real life” situations, can mitigate some of the effects: while a manager may still feel isolated when at work, after-work social connections can reset some of these feelings so they can arrive at work the next day refreshed, and not feel stuck in a worsening spiral. 

    You may have gotten to this point and felt that this is all just common sense: as a manager having “real life” friends and family is actually what life is all about, and of course organizing, say, a party or other social event can fill up your social batteries enough that you can cope with another day of feeling set apart from your team.

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    Kit Eaton

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  • Consultants Are the New C-Suite 

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    Whether you’re just entering the job market at 22 or re-entering at 62, there’s no doubt that this is one of the worst times to find a job.

    In the wake of a troubling economy rife with layoffs—and an unemployment rate of 4.6 percent – employees are leaving the corporate grind in droves—some voluntarily, some not so much. 

    In October, Target slashed 1,800 jobs under newly appointed CEO, Michael Fiddelke. In November, Verizon laid off 13,000 employees—the largest single layoff in the company’s history. And most recently, Omnicom laid off 4,000 employees, following the completion of its acquisition of the Interpublic Group (IPG).

    Paul Wolfe, a seasoned HR executive who spent over two decades in the industry working for brands like Indeed.com, Match.com and Condé Nast has seen his share of layoffs in the industry. “Companies often time layoffs for Q4 because they’re trying to clean up the balance sheet before a new year or a new strategy,” Wolfe told me.

    You spent 25 years with the same firm? Doesn’t matter. Many agree this market is not normal. We are truly in unprecedented times.

    So what happens next? 

    Some point to the juxtaposition of the blue-collar work they may have to take on—having a Master’s to make matchas or utilizing their engineering degree to drive Lyfts. Others defend and encourage the minimum-wage work, doing what they need to do to get by. Many have written heart-wrenching posts on LinkedIn, with last-resort, urgent requests for help.

    But what if there’s a better use of your time and talent? 

    Consulting: It’s Not Your Father’s Sidegig

    Hey, listen, I get it. The word “consultant” can be a little nebulous. Some consultants might have even recommended the “restructuring” that ultimately laid you off. 

    But I’m here to tell you that consulting is getting a lot more interesting. Consultants are now infused with the elite talent who once graced the corporate hallways of major brands and agencies. 

    If you’re lucky, one will grace your team’s decks and campaigns with the same guidance that doubled the bottom line of a Fortune 100 company.

    As an author and board member for Payscale, HR veteran Wolfe told me, “We’re in a Great Reassessment where a lot of talented people are deciding they’d rather design work on their own terms. For some, consulting after a layoff isn’t a fallback—it’s a conscious choice to protect their health, their families, and their sense of purpose.”

    “For many years, there was a social contract between employees and the companies they served,” said Theresa Fuchs-Santiago, executive coach & founder of The Courage Space. “Somewhere along the way, people became line items and consulting has become the way to reclaim the agency and safety that corporate can no longer promise.” 

    The Rise of Independent Consultants

    The independent consultant boom is happening.

    The news of Omnicom evaporating roles once the merger was finalized lit the internet on fire with former employees, advertising reporters, and industry experts weighing in.

    One of my favorite posts was from Adam Ritchie, principal at Adam Ritchie Brand Direction, who wrote on LinkedIn, “Today’s Omnicom story was really ‘Omnicom creates 4,000 direct competitors’ because a good deal of those affected will now go indie and never put their fates in the hands of a single large employer again. When a supernova explodes, new stars are born.”

    Mic drop, Sir.

    And he’s right. First-string quarterbacks are being let go and are hovering over a handful of leadership jobs available. Fed up with eight rounds of interviews and mind-numbing leadership assessment tests, they’re starting their own squad.

    Gab Ferree, former VP of Global Communications at Bumble, Inc., is one of many comms leaders no longer playing the corporate game. “I refuse to put my financial future in the hands of a corporation again. Massive layoffs are now business as usual, meaning the whims of board members directly impact my ability to support my family and provide healthcare. I’ve decided to no longer participate in that ecosystem.” 

    Today, Ferree runs Off the Record, and is focused on arming other communications leaders with the strategic skills to survive budget cuts. “I want to protect as many communications professionals as I can from layoffs by making them more strategic and better tied to business value. In my community, we focus on making comms leaders indispensable by speaking the C-suite’s language and proving our impact on the bottom line.”

    Robyn Jackson Malone, CEO & Founder of RJ Communications and former agency executive at Zeno Group and Citizen Relations said, “When I started my agency 5 years ago, it wasn’t under the backdrop of huge agency mergers and layoffs like we’re experiencing now. But today, we consistently find ourselves competing with the big agencies. That’s not something I could’ve said 5 years ago. I think it’s one-part big agency bloat and bureaucracy fatigue, and one-part day-to-day access to seasoned, senior-level advisors that we offer.”

    No Strings Attached

    With the chords cut and the rules no longer applying, top-tier talent now running their own shops have complete autonomy in who they want to work with, both brand-wise and people-wise, and are creating behind-the-scenes power networks to scale and grow their businesses quickly.

    “We call our model ‘anchored but borderless,’” said Malone. Particularly with the back-to-office mandates, the big guys are limiting their talent pool based on geography—that isn’t a limitation we have so we get to choose the specific talent and subject matter experts who are best able to address our partners’ needs, irrespective of geography.”

    And while there are great referral and networking sites like Mixing Board, powered by Axios, Meetup, and CommsConsultants.com, industry vets are getting scrappy, doing simple calls for consultants on their LinkedIn. 

    Lindsay Lapchuk, head of GTM and Communications at Notebook Agency, wrote a LinkedIn post asking for folks to be part of the agency’s go-to referral roster.

    “The RFP is dying. There’s less patience for red tape, slow processes, and unnecessary overhead. People want to move quickly, get a trusted introduction, and just go. We’re seeing a real surge in demand right now for strong comms and PR talent. Our clients know our work, and they know our bar is high, so they trust us to help them find the right people,” said Lapchuk. 

    Lapchuk’s post attracted 50 freelancers and small shops into the network within 24 hours. “The talent pool out there right now is unlike anything I’ve seen in my career. What’s noticeable about the freelancers and small teams is how fast they’re moving. They’re experimenting and learning, and using AI to build stuff. And honestly, they’re outpacing the big agencies.”

    Recruiters are seeing the same thing. “There are very talented communications professionals who have stepped into consulting this year,” said Brooke Kruger, Founder and CEO of top communications search firm, KC Partners. “These are senior leaders who have run global teams, handled real crisis moments and know how to build a narrative from the inside. Their move into independent work says a lot about where the industry is headed. Companies want seasoned counsel without the overhead and senior talent wants more control over how they work,” she shared.

    The Next Generation Employee

    AI might be the word d’jour when it comes to the future of work, with a Pew Research Center survey citing 52 percent of U.S. workers were worried about AI’s potential role in the workplace, but for consultants, AI is their account executive grinding out write-ups and reports in milliseconds, allowing them to run and operate at the speed of business.

    Amanda Coffee, former Under Armour and PayPal executive, uses AI to scale her PR consultancy, Coffee Communications. “As a solo practitioner, I’ve been able to scale my work because AI steps in as a designer, data scientist, video editor, and copywriter when I need it. When I host an event, I can turn the panel recording into an article in one sitting, and I can use CapCut’s AI tools to produce social-ready videos without slowing down. It makes my time more billable because I can deliver the in-person event and the full content package in the same window of time. It all adds up, and it’s changed how much I can take on as one person.”

    Consultants, especially those that have been around the proverbial corporate block, are savvy when it comes to building a business. The same business plan they wrote for the brand they worked for? They are now writing for themselves. From services offered to their monetization and marketing models, these former corporate big-wigs know exactly what it takes to run a business, and now, have the runway to run their own.

    Former PR executive for Tinder, Reebok, and Ford Motor Company, Dan Mazei, believes the path to leadership and P&L management has always been stifled by politics, red tape, and other impediments. Now running his own brand marketing and communications shop, All Tangled Roots, Mazei sees the new era of doing business as more transparent. “We’re now in an unprecedented marketplace where battle-tested professionals can connect directly with leaders, negotiate their own terms, and plug immediately into the most critical of decisions. Everyone gets what they want, and the value exchange is much more transparent.”

    Shawn Smith, founder and CEO of Shawn Smith Communications, operates a consultancy out of Los Angeles. The former Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. executive shared, “AI is a powerful support tool, but the real value we provide comes from creativity, experience, and judgment. The beauty of running my own agency is pairing the efficiency of AI with the strategic rigor I’ve built over years leading campaigns for global brands. It gives us the ability to be nimble and move with speed. Technology handles the tedious work, freeing me to focus on strategy, storytelling, and the insights that truly move a brand forward.”

    And while the surviving corporate squad retains a steady paycheck every two weeks, they’re peering through the curtains watching the renegades—the group that is pursuing their passions and reclaiming their power. That’s a feeling no paycheck can provide.

    So don’t look down your nose at a consultant. Look up to them. They are former VPs and Presidents who ran the companies you rely on every day. They’re battle-tested and brave and have more experience and institutional knowledge than that AI bot giving you references from 2016.

    In today’s corporate world, consultants are no longer the castaways, they’re the new C-Suite.

    Follow me on Substack.

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

    The extended deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 19, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Meredith Klein

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  • The Penny Shortage Could Eat Into Your Profit Margin. Meanwhile, Investors Are Spending Millions on Them

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    Change is hard. Making change keeps getting harder.

    Owners of restaurants, cafés, and other retail businesses across the U.S. continue battling a worsening shortage of pennies after the Treasury Department stopped producing them on Nov. 12. But as entrepreneurs searched beneath sofa cushions and car mats for any extra one-cent coins they’d previously tossed aside, investors shelled out over $16.7 million for the final 696 pennies ever minted.

    That represents a veritable fortune paid for coins the government doesn’t think are worth producing anymore, since each one costs four times its face value to make. But that willingness by investors to fork out between $48,000 and $800,000 for the last pennies ever minted demonstrates the dramatically clashing fortunes of the nation’s one-cent piece.

    On the one hand, collectors continually increased their bids during a Dec. 11 Stacks & Bowers auction of the 232 lots up for grabs, each containing three of the final coppery portraits of Abe Lincoln ever produced. On the other, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) begged the U.S. Treasury to urgently distribute more of the now condemned pennies to its members and other small businesses, many of whom are now struggling to make change for customers.

    “When operators can’t provide exact change, it creates friction at checkout, frustrating customers,” said NRA president Michelle Korsmo in a letter to the Treasury and Federal Reserve. “In a highly competitive industry, like restaurants, any change to the hospitality our customers expect could mean a lost return sale for an operator.”

    It risks costing even more than that.

    Eager to avoid clashes with diners peeved by penniless business owners rounding up to the nearest nickel, the NRA says its members are instead routinely rounding down. That, Korsmo warned, will cost U.S. restaurants an estimated $13 million to $14 million per month unless they can get their hands on more one-cent coins soon.

    Meanwhile, with the profit margins of U.S. eateries averaging just 3 percent to 5 percent, the NRA said a penny here and a penny there will quickly reduce their monthly proceeds to nothing.

    To avoid that, the organization is calling on the Fed and Treasury to resume distribution of increasingly mothballed one-cent coins, which they stopped doing earlier this year. In addition, the NRA echoed an October appeal by the National Retail Federation (NRF,) which urged federal agencies or Congress to issue formal rules for business owners rounding off in making change without pennies.

    Regulations on how and when to round up or down would not only be valuable in navigating — or indeed preventing — disputes with customers angered at losing a few cents in the process. The NRF also said it would protect companies that do most of their sales in cash from “legal risks simply for implementing necessary practices in response to the nationwide penny shortage.”

    As Inc. previously reported, many small businesses are seeking solutions of their own. Some are appealing to customers to use their spare pennies for purchases, or in swaps for credit toward future buys. Other entrepreneurs are offering free drink refills or other giveaways to people handing over their reserves of one-cent coins.

    But all that is just nickel and diming compared to the money paid for the auctioned lots of the last pennies ever made.

    All 696 of those coins were struck with the Greek letter omega beside Lincoln’s portrait, signifying they were among the last minted in the penny’s 232-year history. And each set of those three, one-cent coins also contained a specially minted 24-carat gold version.

    That extravagance must seem well over the top to small business owners — especially those struggling to scrounge up the modest penny or two they need to send change-stickling customers happily on their way.

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    Bruce Crumley

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  • 12 Leadership Lessons From Lorne Michaels 

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    As the producer of Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels brings serious leadership skills to a deeply unserious business. It’s how he’s kept SNL running for 50 years, through countless competitive threats, technological and cultural shifts, and bodily injuries.  

    As the CEO of a successful software development and consulting firm, I’ve spent my career building creative, high-performing teams, not unlike the ones Lorne assembles every season. His philosophies have helped shape how I lead at Sketch Development: balancing structure and spontaneity, nurturing talent, and finding the funny (or at least the human) in the chaos of business.

    Here are 12 Lorneisms you can take from him to help your business survive your greatest challenge, whether it’s AI, looming tariffs, or the next unknown concern. 

    1. “We don’t go on because it’s perfect. We go on because it’s 11:30.” 

    Over each season, SNL releases a brand-new hour of never-before-seen television every single week. You can achieve something similar at your business. We prefer two-week iterations. 

    Ship regularly, without waiting until it’s polished. Don’t build your processes around achieving perfection, or even around efficiency. Build workflows that prioritize regular checkpoints for value inspection. 

    2. “Organize loosely. You never know what will come up.” 

    Any time you document something so thoroughly that you create rigidity around it, you’re boxing yourself into a corner. Look at what’s protected in your organization, especially if it’s limiting you. Slaughter any sacred cows that are standing in the way of opportunity or productivity. 

    3. “Do it in sunshine.” 

    When Lorne catches a whiff of negativity or hatred in a writer’s sketch, he tells the writer to imagine they’re working in perfect sunshine. 

    The same goes for your team. Operating from a place of joy and enthusiasm will shine through in your service quality. Instead of assuming your users are idiots, assume the best of your customers, and choose to make things easier for them anyway. 

    4. “Sunshine is the best disinfectant.” 

    The second sunshine-related lesson from the Tao of Lorne is all about transparency. To solve a problem, expose it to the light of day and get a proper look at it. You won’t fix it in secret. 

    5. “The dress rehearsal has to be bad before the show can be good.” 

    As crazy as it sounds, give your people room not to shine. People need permission to be bad before they can become good. Having room to experience failure, to learn what it feels like and to learn from it, helps people understand what they need to change. 

    The same goes for your products. Launch fast, then iterate often. 

    6. Avoid “premise overload.” 

    The writers at SNL are talented, creative people. They have big ideas, but sometimes they try to disguise a saga as a comedy sketch. But you can’t cram 18 different things into a single sketch. 

    Learn to slice vertically, make small releases, and maximize the amount of work not done. Releasing 18 simple product enhancements is easier, faster, and better than trying to do them all at once. 

    7. “Listen for when the music changes.” 

    This is one of Lorne’s pet expressions. He’s constantly attuned to the voice of his customers and the cultural zeitgeist. In late night comedy, David Letterman’s Midwestern, “aw shucks” charm changed the music after the counterculture mentality that prevailed in the ‘70s. It changed again in the ‘00s with the proliferation of social networking platforms, and in the ‘10s and ‘20s as social justice movements took the spotlight. 

    If you’re guiding a product or a business, you have to keep your finger on the pulse, too. When the music changes, don’t keep pulling the same dance moves. For example, our music changed when AI started solving productivity problems and the Agile Manifesto fell out of vogue.  

    8. “If I have to read It, the answer Is no.” 

    One of Lorne’s colleagues asked him to read a script for a movie he was planning to direct. Lorne refused, repeatedly. If the writer couldn’t make his case without Lorne diving into the full script, the idea wasn’t ready for the big screen.  

    As a leader, don’t get mired in the details too early in the process. The case should be obvious when an idea is good. 

    9. “Producers should be invisible.” 

    As Harry S. Truman said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” 

    Lorne lives by this axiom. Tina Fey tells a story about Lorne pulling an Inception-level mind trick on her when she had the Weekend Update desk to herself after Jimmy Fallon left the show. Lorne didn’t mandate another co-anchor, he simply suggested that Amy Poehler would be an interesting choice, then reassured Fey that the decision was all hers. The rest is SNL history. 

    10. “You’re not given the job. You take the job.” 

    It’s not a leader’s place to lay everything out for their employees. The leader sets an intention or a desired outcome, but isn’t necessarily responsible for defining how to get there.  

    Get the right people involved, give them the support they need, and remove obstacles from their path. Then trust them to get the job done as they see fit, and don’t punish them for veering outside of their lanes along the way. 

    11. “Remember Podunk!” 

    Celebrities can become so deeply entrenched in the cultures of New York and Los Angeles that they forget their shows air in all 50 states. When they do, Lorne reminds them to remember Podunk. It’s a backhanded way to point out there’s a broad range of tastes – and audience needs – across the whole country. The same goes for your customer base. 

    This curse of knowledge can plague leaders and product managers in any industry. You might become so insulated in the community around you that you forget about the broader ecosystem. Don’t lose your connection to the diverse array of experiences and responsibilities for which you’re responsible. 

    12 – Overproduce to be ready.

    Come up with more ideas than you need. At SNL, this means pitching 100 fresh ideas every week, even though only 10 might make it to air. Ideas are tested, and more get weeded out at various stages throughout the week. 

    Overproduction and an experimental mindset will always yield better outcomes than assuming you know exactly which ideas are best. This means reframing how we think about waste. It’s not a bad thing to be avoided. It’s a byproduct you can mine for value. 

    Leading Like Lorne 

    Under Lorne’s guidance, SNL has survived cable, the internet, and streaming services, not to mention Mad TV, SCTV, and In Living Color. If you take a page from his book, your business can become just as nimble and resilient. 

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    John Krewson

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  • How to Help Your Employees Get College Credit for Their Jobs

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    On the job training is in focus because of the rapid rise of AI technology and a widening gap between management expectations and the actual skill levels of many workers are now required to use AI. Hence there’s lots of talk of “upskilling” or “reskilling” the workforce. But education and work match up in different ways too, as a new report from the University of Phoenix and the Harris Poll reminds us. It turns out that nearly two in three U.S. workers who don’t have a college degree are unaware that their ongoing and former experiences at work can actually count toward earning one.

    The gap in understanding on this issue is actually pretty big: the study also found that 45 percent of employed Americans aren’t aware that their on the job training can map into college credits, even though 90 percent of workers are currently developing their skill sets in some way, science news site Phys.org notes. 

    More interestingly, the Harris data also show that over seven in 10 workers have turned down options for professional development, with 35 percent saying this was because of cost issues, 32 percent because of schedule issues and nearly one in five people saying their employers weren’t supportive. The scheduling issues marry up with at least one other report that showed recently managers aren’t taking professional development opportunities because they’re just too busy and too tired out to learn new skills — a problem that also likely afflicts many nonmanagerial workers. 

    The question of costs is interesting here, especially since the study found over half of workers have paid out of their own funds for training that wasn’t covered by their employers, and 23 percent have done this more than once. At least for the issue of AI training, this aligns with several reports that say workers are sometimes bringing in their own AI tools to the office, partly because their employers don’t offer any and partly because the ones on offer are inadequate—some of this self-propelled AI use probably involves workers covering their own training costs. A recent study pointed out that Gen-Z workers, in particular, would like their employers to spend more on training. 

    The study also dug into what experiences people think count as college degree credits, and highlighted some surprising details. For example, 59 percent of the over 2,000 adult respondents to the survey didn’t think life experiences could count as credits, 46 percent doubted professional experience mattered, and 43 percent thought professional training courses weren’t credit-worthy. And while overall a third of respondents didn’t realize previous college coursework could carry forward, Gen-Z (the workers most recently in college) was more likely to think this way than older generations.

    Why is this important to your company?

    Firstly, it’s a reminder that in-work education is valuable, both to the employers and to employees themselves. And if your workplace training program doesn’t include mention of the fact that it may count as college course credits, it’s probably worth reminding your staff of this fact. The U.S. workforce is constantly training too, the Harris data show, with 90 percent of the survey respondents saying they get some training time every month, and 18 percent saying they spend over 20 hours a month in training. 

    Secondly, recent reports highlight a skills gap between recent college grads and the kind of expertise and knowledge that businesses — particularly smaller ones—are looking for in new hires. Offering your workers the chance to further their education with college-level training is a complex issue, since it raises questions of workers taking time off periodically for college studies, or even sabbatical periods. But offering meaningful perks to your workers like this may be more important than ever, studies show, since the workforce’s needs and expectations are evolving, and they may also boost workers’ engagement and efficiency in a period where worker performance may be dipping under many sources of stress.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Kit Eaton

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  • 5 Tips for Leading a Successful AI Transformation

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    I heard someone recently say you can’t mandate a mentality. That’s what I think about when I consider the intense push by company leaders to drive AI adoption among their employees. While I personally love AI and it’s been a force multiplier, I also recognize that not everyone is like me.

    All said, if the goal is to drive adoption, In their fervor to win the AI race, I think many organizations have skipped several critical steps crucial for a successful effort.

    The Missing Foundation: Change Management

    That first step is change management — the structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from their current state to a desired future state. We talk all the time about change management in business parlance, but in our zeal to beat others out the door, these fundamental principles seem to be set aside.

    That’s a mistake.

    Research from McKinsey shows that 70 percent of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support. Adopting AI, like any other major initiative, is a change management process. Mandates are rarely universally accepted, and this top-down approach is often met with significant resistance.

    I’ve written about effective change management and how to communicate change, but if we want to boil down the basics: tell people the who, what, when, why, and how with deep emphasis on “what’s in it for me,” “why are we doing this,” and “why will this help us.”

    The Current Reality

    That’s not what many organizations are doing. Organizational leaders are shifting to AI with the rationale of “because I said so.” For many, that’s not sufficient as I often say, absent a narrative, people will create one. Leaders need to provide the why, the rationale, and give people the larger vision so they know how to engage with AI.

    Transformation without adequate motivation is stagnation but transformation with shared vision becomes sustainable momentum.

    5 Essential Questions for a Better Approach 

    So how do we go about it? The answer lies in thoughtfully addressing five fundamental questions before rolling out any AI initiative.

    1. What: Define the Problem You’re Solving

    The first question is: what are we solving for? If you don’t know what you’re solving for, how can you ask staff to embrace AI tools if you don’t even know what it’s leading to? First, figure out what you want to solve. That’s the “what.”

    2.  Who: Identify Your Audience
    After you figure out what you’re solving for, you need to determine to whom it applies. AI is not a panacea, and there probably should be specific departments with legitimate use cases identified. For the problem you’ve defined, determine the audience who will be most impacted and who needs to be involved.

    3. Why: Provide the Motivation
    The next aspect is the “why.” People need inspiration, people need motivation, people need to understand why you’re asking them to do what you’re asking them to do.Treat people like adults and give them the reason(s). You can’t just say “because I told you so.” That’s empty, it’s unhelpful, and less than inspiring.

    4.  When: Establish Clear Timelines
    Then there is the “when.” When are we trying to get it done? What’s the timeline for this? Because we know what the problem is and what we’re solving for, there should be a date for when we solve it or accomplish a milestone. If you can’t say when, then it remains open-ended forever, and that’s also less than inspiring.

    5. How: Map Out the Execution
    And finally, there is the “how.” This is probably the most underrated of the who, what, when, why, and how construct, but how are we going to do it? There should be clear instructions for how we’re going to achieve the goal. That means thinking about timelines, tools, milestones, rules, responsibilities, owners, contributors, and mapping that all out. People need to know what tools they are using and what those tools will help them achieve. And they may need to be trained on the tools.

    What I see far too often is a tool morass, a chaotic proliferation of AI platforms and applications with no clear guidance on which tool serves which purpose, no integration between systems, and no coherent strategy. Employees become overwhelmed by the sheer number of options and paralyzed by uncertainty about which tool to use for their specific needs. This confusion breeds frustration and resistance, ultimately undermining the entire adoption effort.

    Define the tools, the timeline, the anticipated outcomes, and the measures of success. This means investigating tools thoroughly, understanding how they interplay with existing systems, setting clear strategy and guardrails, and choosing company-right tools rather than a scattershot ‘AI everything’ approach.

    Management, Not Mandate

    You can’t mandate a mentality. You can’t force and reasonably expect people to embrace AI simply because leadership declares it’s important. What you can do is create the conditions for meaningful adoption by treating your people like adults, giving them context, purpose, clear guidance, and a compelling reason to change.

    The organizations that will win the AI race aren’t the ones that move fastest out the gate with mandates and pressure. They’re the ones that take the time to bring their people along on the journey, building genuine buy-in and capability at every level. That’s not just good change management, it’s smart leadership.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Bernard Coleman

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  • 5 Reasons Black Friday Is One of My Most Productive Days of the Year

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    It’s Black Friday and I’m working. It’s not that I have to work — I’m self-employed and can choose my own schedule — it’s that I find this a great day to get things done. Now, to be fair, I’m an American in Switzerland so it’s a regular day (as was Thanksgiving) here. But almost all my HR clients are in the U.S., so they aren’t working. My son has work, and my daughter is recovering from a Thanksgiving Day wisdom tooth extraction, so it’s not like we were having a big family shopping trip or anything like that.

    But if we weren’t traveling over Thanksgiving, I’ve always opted to work on Black Friday, and save my vacation time for other days — even when I worked corporate. Here are five reasons why working on a day when most white collar workers are eating leftovers and grabbing deals. (Granted, if you work in retail, getting this day off is super hard to do!)

    Here is why:

    1. Communications slow down. No dings from Slack. A few emails here and there. It’s mostly quiet. As someone who is easily distracted, having a day with fewer distractions to get things done is a blessing.
    2. December is an important month. While gift certificates for HR consulting and webinars don’t typically appear in people’s stockings (although I’d be happy to make one for you if you’d like to buy), companies still have much they need to accomplish before the ball drops. This gives me a leg up on being ready for a busy December.
    3. December is a busy month. While my kids no longer have Christmas concerts I need to attend, I am the production manager for our local Christmas Panto, which plays in December. On top of that I have parties and improv performances that take up a lot of time. Working today gives me a bit more time to work around those things in December. 
    4. I have way too much stuff as is. While I am in Switzerland, the Black Friday concept has arrived here. Yes, there are bargains to be found, no I don’t need any of them, unless an airline wants to put tickets on sale. Running to stores to snag deals on things I don’t need isn’t really a deal.
    5. The messages I send out don’t get lost. Since my client and vendor base is in the U.S., most of them have today off, but if I send out an email today it is likely to be seen by those who are working. Sure, a marketing email might be lost by Monday, but I’m reaching a core audience by working today.

    This list, in no way, shape, or form, should guilt you into getting work done today if you don’t want to. Take time with your family. Take time to eat pie. Shop ‘til you drop! If that is what works best for you and your business and your life, do that.

    But don’t feel guilty spending a bit of time working if that is something that will make your life better. 

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Suzanne Lucas

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